Flight conveyer



C. F. BALL FLIGHT CONVEYER Nov. 2G,r 95@ Filed Deo. 27, 1947 lin- finanz/*07. /aareyfa ZZ.

Patented Nov. 20, 1951 FLIGHT CONVEYER Charles F. Ball, Franklin, Pa., assignor to Joy Manufacturing Company, a corporation Pennsylvania Application December 27, 1947, Serial No, 794,136

4 Claims. (Cl. 198-175) :This invention relates to flight conveyors, andl .more particularly to iiight conveyors which are especially adapted for use in shuttle cars.

Shuttle cars are now used Widely in Vmines'to haul mined material, such as coal, ores and the like, from a working area of a mine to some point of delivery, either terminal or'intermediate, and these shuttle cars generally include body portions and discharge sections which are pivotally connected together and which have flight conveyors extending along their bottoms for moving the material which is loaded into the car out through the discharge section when the desired point of discharge has been reached.. These flight conveyors generally are in the form of a continuous flexible conveyor which has an active strand that extends throughout the bottom of the car and of the discharge section, the conveyor being usually driven at the outer end of the discharge section by appropriate means, and the conveyor also comprises a run which passes beneath the bottom of the discharge section and the bottom of the main car body and around an idler at the end of the car remote from the discharge section. Due to the weight of the material with which the car is loaded, much of which weight rests directly on the conveyor, a rugged construction is necessary, and in order that the material may be Well cleaned up in the car and that the conveyor may have a minimum tendency to have material Work beneath it and lift it above the car bottom, it is desirable that provision be made for assuring the movement of the ights in scraping relation to the car bottom and the bottom of the discharge section. Desirably, in shuttle cars, there will be spaced flight-moving chains, and flight elements will be extended transversely of the bottom portions of the shuttle car body and its discharge section and be secured to the actuating chains by connections allowing for limited movements of the flights angularly relative to the chains.

Where the conveyor must handle heavy material, for example, large lumps of coal, limestone or iron ore, there is a tremendous hammering as the load is dropped into the conveyor-as from a loading machine. Also, of course, there is considerable twisting and jerking when the shuttle car load is set in motion preliminary to discharge, and during its discharge movement. Accordingly, a non-rigid connection is desirable, because it leaves the chain relatively free to respond .to the several forces acting on it; and by loosely attaching the nights, as through rectangular extremities received in slightly larger rectangular holes in the side chains, or otherwise, to such side chains, the flights not only can, but do, rock or tilt; and by arranging the projections so that their central horizontal plane is above the central horizontal plane of the flight as a whole, there will be provided the possibility, and 'the actuality, of a forward tilt of the flights, with the result that the leading edges, through friction drag upon the bottom of the body and discharge section of the shuttle car, will be caused to provide a scraping or wiping action over the latter, thus insuring a most efficient and complete discharge of the material from the shuttle car. While the foregoing discussion relates particularly to the employment of the invention in shuttle cars, its use is by no means so limited, and it has a wide applicability to other conveying purposes anddevices.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved chain and flight conveyor. Another object of the invention is to provide an improved night for a chain and flight conveyor. A further object of the invention is to provide an improved chain and ight conveyor of a construction which Will provide a very eective wiping or scraping action of the flights along the surfaces over which they are to move material. Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved pivotal connection between the nights of a chain and flight conveyor and the chains proper thereof. Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter more fully appear.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and of which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a flight conveyor chain incorporating the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, in part on the plane of the vertical section line 2.-2 of Fig. 1, and inpart in elevation, of a portion of a conveyor night and one of the associated drive chains.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal, vertical section on the plane of the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing a flight in cross section-and showing its pivot mounting in broken lines.

- Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a night and of one link of a conveyor chain with which the flight is adapted to be associated and by which the flight is adapted to be propelled.

Forthe purposes of this application, it is unnecessary to illustrate the structure of the shuttle car or other device with which the chain and night conveyor disclosed may be employed, and it will suffice to say that there is shown at I in Figs. 2 and 3 a surface over whicha chain and flight conveyor 2 is adapted to travel and to move material. This chain and night conveyor includes side chains 3 and 4, and nights extending between the side chains. The nights 5 are shown as being solid in cross section as at Il, but it will be obvious that they may be made hollow, if desired. They desirably have relatively nat lower surfaces; and are shown in Fig. 3-as approximately rectangular in cross section, having their longer sides relatively parallel to the surface I.

'Ihey may obviously be of other cross sections.

They are connected to the side chains for tilting or pivotal movement about axes extending longitudinally of said flights above the mid-points between the tops and bottoms thereof. They have, as shown, projecting pivot portions 8 at either end. These may vary in shape but are shown as being non-circular in cross section, and similar in cross section to the nights proper, but smallerA than the nights. They are so arranged that the intersection of median, horizontal and vertical planes extending longitudinally of the pivot portionsis at a point (or line) Iii which is well above the point (or line) of intersection of median horizontal and vertical planes extending longitudinally of the flights asa whole.

The chains 3 and 4 are made up of links .I I and I2 connected by pins I3, extending through spacing sleeves I4 Vsurrounded Vby outer wear sleeves I5. The links II at the mutually adjacent sides ofthe chains 3 and 4 each have opening I in them, these openings being desirably, with the construction illustrated, approximately equally spaced with respect to the top and bottom of the chains 3 and `4, and slightly larger, both vertically and also longitudinally of the chains, then the projections 8. The openings I6 are also non-circular and are similar in shape to the projections 8; in the` embodiment shown the openings are rectangular. "Thus there is permitted a small de gree of tilt of the nights through the loose nt of their projecting portions 8 in the openings Iii. The positions of the projections i8 relative to the bodies of the flights and ofthe openings `I6 relative to the links I=I may besuch that when the flights are not in motion their bottom surfaces may rest upon the surface I in flat contact with the latter, but during driven vmovement of the Ychain and night conveyor there may be a slight lifting of the rearward edges of the nights, as at I'I in Fig. 3, while the forward lower corners I8 wipe or scrape over the surface I.

It will be understood that in use the tops of the nights 5, and `also of the chains 3 and 4, may be covered to a depth of some feet by heavymaterial. This material will not only rest on the l tops of the nights, but it will also rest between the nights on the surface I. When it is necessary to start the night .conveyor to effect movement of the material, e. g. its discharge from a shuttle car, and the chains are moved towards the left in Fig. l, it will be appreciated that the nights will, to a certain degree, as it were, trip on the material resting on the bottom I and be tilted somewhat in the manner shown in Fig. 3,

so as to wipe, as at their forward lower corners I8, over the bottom surface I. 'There will thus 'be a dennite lscraper action of the nights, and because of the low heightof the nights and the dispositionA of their pivots with respect to the links II of the chains 3 and 4 there will be accomplished a very effective cleaning action of the shuttle car bodies and discharge sections. It will be understood that the projecting portions 8 need not be wholly below the tops of the nights 5, but may be disposed in various positions and constructed in various ways so as to secure the tripping and scraping actions mentioned.

Not only will the construction described effectively move the material along and clear the material oi the surface I, but, through the inherent nexibility, breakage of the chains, either under the pounding of material loaded onto the conveyor, or'by reason kof the strains imposed in getting the mass of material into motion and maintaining it in motion during discharge, will be avoided. The pivotal connections of the nights to the chains so that they tend to tilt forwardly when in normal use, and the nature of the pivotal connections which prevent such freedom of motion as to permit inversion of the nights, are obviously desirable elements in my in- Y vention, from different aspects thereof.

While there is in this application specifically described one form which the invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that this form of the same is shown for purposes of illustration and that the invention may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new `and desire to secure b Letters Patent is:

1,. In combination, inta. night conveyor, a pair of chains having in certain links thereof polygcnalY openings, and conveyor nights having projections from their ends received in said openings and disposed with their longitudinal Vcenters above the longitudinal centers of said nights, said projections also being polygonal and of smaller dimension on each side thereof than said openings.

2. In combination, ina night conveyor, a pair of chains having in certain links thereof rectangular openings, and conveyor nights having projections from their ends received in said open'- ings and disposed with their longitudinal centers above the longitudinal centers of said nights, said projections also being rectangular and of smaller dimension on each side thereof than the correspending sides of said openings.

3. In combination, in a chain and night conveyor, a pair of chains comprising sets of parallel links, certain of said links at the mutually closer sides of said chains having openings therein for the reception of night pivots, and conveyor night elements having longitudinally projecting ends forming pivots and received in said openings, said pivots and said openings formed to permit limned uiting of said night elements about longitudinal axes, the pivots being so arranged on the nights that the intersection of median horizontal and vertical planes extending longitudinally of the pivots is above the intersection of median horizontaland vertical planes extending longitudinally of the nights as a whole, to cause the reactions on said elements of material moved by them to press their lower forward portions downward.

4. In combination, in a chain and night conveyor, side chains, and transverse nights engageable with a surface over which material is to be moved, and means for' connecting said nights to said chains for tilting movement about axes extending longitudinally of said nights above the mid-points between the tops and bottoms thereof, said means including chain links having noncircular openings, and substantially horizontal projections on the nights of similar shape as but smaller than said openings .and having said axes 5 disposed above the aforesaid mid-points of said Number ights. 757,667 CHARLES F. BALL. 915,425 1,506,780 REFERENCES CITED 5 1,527,146 The following references are of record in the 1,885,946 le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date 662,522 540,617 Maxon June 4, 1895 663,204

Name Date Mayall Apr. 19, 1904 Gerstkemper Mar. 16, 1909 Sherman Sept. 2, 1924 Litchfield Feb. 17, 1925 Redler Nov. 1, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany July 15, 1938 Germany July 26, 1938 

